Frontline medical staff in Manchester have developed an innovative PPE respirator that could provide a breakthrough in the fight against coronavirus (COVID-19).
Staff in the Intensive Care Unit at Wythenshawe Hospital, which is part of Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT), have developed Bubble PAPR – a Powered Air-Purifying Respirator (PAPR) – to keep healthcare workers safe during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
According to a statement on the Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust website, the “simple and low-cost device” consists of a reusable collar that sits around the neck and a single-use plastic hood that can be easily recycled.
The collar contains a fan to draw in air through a virus filter and deliver a cooling airflow around the face.
Bubble PAPR has been designed to be compatible with stringent infection control practices and be comfortable to wear for the duration of a shift in the ICU, or other high-risk areas. The wearer’s face is clearly visible, which will improve critical communication between staff and vastly improving the patient experience.
Dr Brendan McGrath – Intensive Care Consultant at Wythenshawe Hospital – has been the clinical lead through the development and testing process. He said: “We have tested Bubble PAPR and we know it performs its primary function which is to protect staff against inhalation of airborne viruses.
“We have also now tested it in the simulated clinical environment.
“The reaction from staff has been overwhelmingly positive: they saw something that was not restrictive on their face, that allowed them to communicate with their colleagues, that was pleasant to wear and will allow them to interact with their patients.”
Intensive care staff at @WythenshaweHosp have developed @BubblePapr – an innovative PPE respirator that could be a massive breakthrough in keeping NHS staff safe while delivering life-saving care during #COVID19.
The Bubble PAPR is part of an ongoing collaboration between MFT, Designing Science and The University of Manchester.
The collaboration will identify unmet clinical needs and work collaboratively to develop new solutions.
A patent has been filed and the development team are now working with manufacturing partners to produce Bubble PAPR in large volumes and signing up distribution partners.
Patrick Hall – MD of Designing Science – added:
“Most current PAPRs are re-purposed industrial devices, not designed for clinical use and expensive. We have taken a user centred design approach to engineer and develop the Bubble PAPR to be as simple as possible while meeting key functional and ergonomic requirements. This means it can be easily and cheaply manufactured in large volumes so it can be made available right across the healthcare system, wherever clinical and support staff are interacting with patients who have confirmed or suspected COVID-19 or other serious infections.”
Dr Glen Cooper – Program Director for Mechanical Engineering Design in the School of Engineering at The University of Manchester – said: “The Bubble PAPR is both ergonomically and mechanically the right product to meet the need to protect NHS staff during the COVID crisis and beyond.”
The aim is to have Bubble PAPR widely available for front line staff before the end of 2020.
You can find more information via the MFT website here.
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For the latest information, guidance and support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK, please do refer to official sources at gov.uk/coronavirus.
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Authorities prepare to ‘turn the tide’ on Greater Manchester’s housing crisis
Emily Sergeant
Greater Manchester is preparing to ‘turn the tide’ on its housing crisis by building new homes and protecting renters.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has set out its comprehensive plan to connect communities to new jobs and opportunities, drive up standards across the rental sector, and build new homes – with the latter helping to fulfil its Housing First ambition give everyone access to a ‘safe, secure, and affordable’ home by 2038.
This week has already seen a ‘renewed focus’ on driving up housing standards thanks to the naming of the first supporters of Greater Manchester’s bold new Good Landlord Charter.
New analysis also shows that GMCA’s Brownfield Housing Fund, which was set up in 2020, has already provided grants to deliver more than 15,000 homes, with an average of just over 45% being affordable housing.
But, there’s still a long way to go.
🏡 Today at #Housing2025, we marked a major milestone: Over 50% of rented homes in Greater Manchester are now covered by the Good Landlord Charter 🎉
— Greater Manchester Combined Authority (@greatermcr) June 26, 2025
GMCA says those recent successes will not stand alone, but rather support plans to deliver more social housing than is lost across the region.
Unlocking brownfield land is what authorities claim is the key to turning the tide on the housing crisis, as since its inception in 2020, as mentioned, Greater Manchester has invested a whopping £135.4 million from the Brownfield Housing Fund to redevelop underused brownfield land, which ultimately delivered thousands of new homes.
It’s anticipated that further funding allocations will come in the summer to supplement those already approved and in the works.
GMCA is also using the power of Mayoral Development Corporations (MDC) – which are statutory bodies set up by the Mayor Andy Burnham, designed to speed up development and attract investment within a specific area – to unlock regeneration opportunities, as these ‘pioneering’ tools bring together local partners and drive forward the authority’s ambitions to build new homes, bring jobs and investment, and support economic growth.
Authorities are preparing to ‘turn the tide’ on Greater Manchester’s housing crisis / Credit: Benjamin Elliott (via Unsplash)
Some of these MDCs currently include Old Trafford (part of the proposed Western Gateway Mayoral Development Zone), the expanded Stockport MDC, and the Northern Gateway MDC (part of Atom Valley).
Together, these three alone are expected to deliver 27,250 homes over the next 15 years to help address the housing crisis.
“If we are serious about securing the long-term success of Greater Manchester, we need to free ourselves from the grip of the housing crisis,” commented Mayor Andy Burnham.
“Because of the decisions we’ve taken, Greater Manchester is now building more affordable homes than at any point since the turn of the millennium. We need to keep building on that momentum until we reach a tipping point where we build more social homes than we lose.
“We’re determined to ensure that every person in Greater Manchester has access to the safe and secure home they need in order to thrive.”
Featured Image – James Feaver (via Unsplash)
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‘Dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture goes on public display in Greater Manchester after fears it was lost
Emily Sergeant
A long-lost masterpiece of Victorian silverwork has been saved and is now on display to the public in Greater Manchester.
Anyone taking a trip over to the National Trust’s historic Dunham Massey property, on the border of Greater Manchester into Cheshire, this summer will get to see the ‘dazzling’ sculpture called Stags in Bradgate Park – which was commissioned by a former owner in a defiant gesture to the society that shunned him.
The dramatic sculpture of two rutting Red Deer stags, commissioned in 1855 by George Harry Grey, 7th Earl of Stamford, was said to be an ‘act of love and rebellion’.
It also serves as a symbol of ‘locking horns’ with the society that ostracised him over his marriage to a woman considered ‘beneath him’.
“This isn’t just silver – it’s a story,” says James Rothwell, who is the National Trust‘s curator for decorative arts.
“A story of a man who fell in love with a woman that society deemed unworthy. When the Earl married Catherine Cox, whose colourful past was said to have included performing in a circus, Victorian high society was scandalised. Even Queen Victoria shunned the couple at the opera and local gentry at the horse races in Cheshire turned their backs on them.”
Modelled by Alfred Brown and crafted by royal goldsmiths Hunt & Roskell, Stags in Bradgate Park is a meticulously-detailed depiction of nature, and was considered a ‘sensation’ in its day.
Showing the rutting deer positioned on a rocky outcrop with gnarled hollow oaks, it graced the pages of the Illustrated London News, was exhibited at the London International Exhibition of 1862, and at the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1867 – both of which were events that drew millions of visitors.
A ‘dazzling’ Victorian silver sculpture has gone on public display in Greater Manchester / Credit: Joe Wainwright | James Dobson (via Supplied)
The silver centrepiece was the celebrity art of its time, paraded through streets and admired by the public like no other.
Gradually over the years, some of the Earl of Stamford’s silver collection has been re-acquired for Dunham Massey, and this particular world-renowned sculpture, thought to be lost for decades and feared to have been melted down, has miraculously survived with its ‘dramatic’ central component being all that is left.
“The sculpture is not only a technical marvel, with its lifelike depiction of Bradgate Park’s rugged landscape and wildlife, but also a dramatic human story key to the history of Dunham Massey,” added Emma Campagnaro, who is the Property Curator at Dunham Massey.
Emily Sergeant -
17th September 2020 
